While it's absolutely true that the text of a show should be open to re-invention, it is also true that it's been hard to find better productions of Hal Prince shows than his original direction. Not that anyone can re-invent the spark that made those productions work simply by reproducing staging, but sometimes the re-imaginings seem to miss the way he blended the theatricality with the idea in a very tightly focused way, a way that brought an engaging tension to the evening.
Has there ever been a better version of Follies than his? A Little Night Music? Sweeney Todd? Evita? Phantom of the Opera? Could there ever be?
On a related point, remember the splendid recreation of the original Oklahoma by the North Carolina (I think) students and staff, broadcast on TV? We saw not a museum piece but a timeless one, still alive with the joy of fresh collaboration circa 1943.
Everything is possible! |
